Springtime for Donatello
by Gyt Kaliba
Summary: Donatello's crush on April always leads to his brothers' teasing, but things are about to change. Donnie has managed to get April to agree to hang out with him, just him, on Valentine's Day no less! The problem - Donnie forgot that's what day it was. Can he pull together a plan to win April over in time, or is he about to make a fool of himself? (Nickelodeon Cartoon Canon)
1. Chapter 1 - In Over His Head

**Springtime for Donatello**

_Hello fellow TMNT fans! Well, I wish I could say that this fanfic had been a long time coming, but in truth, the idea came to me a little under a month ago. The reason for this fanfic coming into being is kind of a combination of a lot of little things, but the basics of it come down to the same person I'm dedicating it to - my girlfriend. Usually on Valentine's Day, I try to make an AMV of some sort or another and dedicate it to her, but this year, the ideas for a video just weren't flowing. I was also having trouble finding the clips I wanted, as I was already set on doing something about Donatello and April. A big part of our get-togethers lately have been watching the latest TMNT episodes as they come out, and Donnie and April had quickly become one of our favorite pairings, so it just seemed natural._

_When the video idea just wasn't working out, I didn't know what to do instead of that, until inspiration struck me. My aspirations at the moment are to eventually be a published author, so why not do my project to dedicate to her in that medium? And so, this fanfic began...kinda. I'll get more into that at the end of the chapter though. Please enjoy the story, and let me know what you think._

* * *

**Chapter One. In Over His Head**

"Well? Is he still meditating?"

"Hold on, let me check." Donatello said, as he peeked carefully around the corner of the sofa they were all hiding behind. As soon as he could see that Splinter's eyes were still closed in meditation, he pulled back. "Yeah, I think so. You sure this is really a good idea?"

"Hey, he's the one that told us to look for any opportunity to strike." Raphael said with a scowl, crossing his arms. "And the longer we wait, the more prepared he's gonna be. Let's just do this already!

"Calm down Raph. We've got to wait for the right opening, or this is never going to work." Interjected Leonardo, motioning for Raph to keep his voice down. "Or do you want a repeat of last time?"

Michelangelo snickered then, having a very vivid memory of last time. "That was funny. You screamed like a girl."

"I did not!" Raph said, turning his scowl on his younger brother.

"You _so_ did." Mikey smirked back.

"I did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Di-"

"Quiet!" Leo said, looking at both of them as Donatello held a palm over his face and shook his head. "We're about to make our move."

Both Raph and Mikey stopped their bickering, though Mikey kept smiling while Raph scowled. As Leo peeked around the corner of the sofa himself, he could hear a light 'thwack' followed by Mikey letting out a slight yelp of pain. Sighing, he motioned with his hand behind his shell, and then they moved.

All four of them leaped out from behind the sofa, and spread out, rushing their off-guard sensei quickly and silently. _Sorry sensei, but this is payback for last time._ Raph thought silently with a mischievous smirk, before he jumped lightly off the ground, intending to do a spinning kick to the back of the old rat's head.

Without even opening his eyes or moving anything other than his arm, Splinter raised his hand and caught Raph's foot, causing him to halt in the air and then fall to the ground with a thud. Splinter opened his eyes and gave a look at his other three sons before turning on Raph. "You are too loud and eager, Raphael."

The other three gave a quick look at each other, their sneak attack ruined. "Okay, change of plans." Leo said, before rushing the still sitting Splinter.

"Wait, Leo, d-" Raph started to say, but it was too late. Still not standing, Splinter lifted Raph back up by his leg, and threw him right into the advancing Leonardo, sending them both sprawling back into a wall with a loud crash.

"...I knew he was going to do that." Grumbled Raphael as he lay there seeing stars. "Sometimes I really hate you Leo." Leo had nothing to say back but groan.

"Okay, at exactly what point did we lose control here?" Donnie said, looking to Mikey for support. He gasped, seeing that his brother was no longer there. "What th – hey!" He shouted, spotting Mikey making a mad dash for the opposite corner of the room past Splinter. "A little support would be nice!"

"No way dude, I'm out!" Mikey said, running right past Splinter – only to trip and fall face first to the floor when the rat's tail wrapped around his leg. "Oww." Came his muffled voice.

"No, now you are out." Splinter said, chuckling slightly as he stood at last, facing his last son. "So, Donatello...what will you do now?"

"I-Is wetting myself an option?" Donnie gulped, clearing his throat and pulling his staff from his back without thinking. The plan had been to go in unarmed, but since he was on his own now...not that he stood much of a chance either way.

Splinter said nothing and merely raised his cane as his own weapon. The two stared each other down for a moment, before Splinter started the fight for them. "Hajime!" The master and student rushed each other, clashing staff against staff, and it was all Donnie could do to keep from getting knocked out. As it was, he received a knock to both sides and the top of his head, before he completely misjudged where Splinter would strike next, and received a glancing fourth blow to his chin, knocking him backwards.

"You are over-thinking things again, Donatello. Do not think, do!" Splinter chided, moving his staff back for another strike.

Narrowing his eyes, Donnie did just that. Slamming the tip of his staff into the floor before him, he propelled himself upward like a pole-vaulter, and with a yell, he spun a kick towards his master's hand. To his surprise, it connected, and Splinter's cane went sliding across the floor. When Donatello landed, he looked at Splinter in surprise, as Splinter looked at him with the same level of shock.

_ I-I did it! I really did it!_ Donnie thought to himself with glee, as he was about to declare his victory -

"Hey guys. What's going on?"

A musical voice filled his head, and he turned to look at the entrance to their lair where April stood. "A-April!" He smiled, taking in the view of her breathtaking beauty. A split second later however, he saw only his master's tail, as Splinter jumped and sideswiped the nerdy turtle right in the face with it, knocking him over and sending him skidding backwards on his shell until he crashed right into the sofa, his head sliding underneath it.

"Yame." Splinter said, ending their combat.

"...Did I interrupt something?" April asked, quirking an eyebrow and looking at the scene.

* * *

"I do not think I _need_ to say it, however...that was not your best attempt." Splinter chided as he walked before his sons, who sat before him with their legs underneath them. April was standing in a nearby corner, leaning against the wall and watching. "You were too eager to attack." He said, pointing at Raphael. "You did not adjust your strategy, you merely abandoned it." His finger switched direction to Leonardo, before then switching over to Michelangelo. "You panicked and tried to run.'

Donatello sighed, knowing his turn would be next. _Great, now sensei is going to embarrass me in front of April all over again._ He grimaced as his father's finger found it's way to him next.

"And you, Donatello, let outside influence distract you from what you were doing." He said disappointingly, causing Donnie to look at the floor, unable to meet his master's eyes. "However..." Splinter spoke again. "Before that, you actually managed to disarm me. You showed great skill in finally 'doing' and not 'thinking'. I was very proud of you, my son."

Donnie looked up to Splinter in shock, and then looked to his brothers who had been doing the same before turning towards him. Had he really just been praised above his brothers?

"You are dismissed." Splinter said with his usual serious tone, but a smile was on his face as he left the room, and the Turtles stood at last.

"I-I can't believe he just said that." Donnie moved very woodenly, too stunned to really take it all in.

"Well, you did do better than all of us this time." Leo praised him, patting him lightly on the shoulder as he passed by to go to the couch and turn on the TV – it was time for Space Heroes.

"No kidding, it was AWESOME!" Mikey broke in, eyes wide as he re-played what happened in his mind – self-editing out the part where he got tripped of course. "Bro, I have a brand new respect for you."

"Thanks Mikey, I – w-whoa!" Donnie almost fell down as Mikey suddenly crouched down and grabbed his foot, rubbing it gingerly. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to absorb some of the luck." Mikey answered, as he began to rub his face on Donnie's foot. He then gave his brother an extremely serious look. "This foot is like Leo's hand now. You can _never_ wash this again."

Donatello facepalmed and sighed, and before he opened his eyes, there came a light 'thwack' again and Mikey's yelp of pain, and Donnie's foot came free. Stepping back down, he saw Raph standing there now.

"Yeah, you did okay. Next time it's gonna be me that tags sensei though." Raph said grumpily, apparently not liking that he was going to be third in line to have managed this. He gave Donnie a brief glance before he moved off however, Mikey trailing behind, and Donnie returned a smile. He could tell that his brother actually did congratulate him, he just wasn't the best at putting it into words.

"Wow, so you really did manage to tag Splinter? Good going Donnie." April said, walking over and smiling at him.

"U-Uh, yeah! It was awesome! It was just like sensei said, I just did, I didn't think! Well, I mean, I thought, but then I - " He rambled on, trying to think of the best way to tell the story and impress April.

April rolled her eyes, and patted his shoulder as she walked by. "Wait, are you leaving already? You just got here?" Donnie said dejectedly.

"Sorry, you'll have to give me the full scoop another time, I just had to drop by and charge my T-Phone." April said apologetically, bending to unplug it from the wall. "Kind of a pain to have to come down here to charge it though. Have you had any luck figuring out why it won't charge from my room?"

"I-I'm still working that out." Donnie grinned sheepishly. In truth, he had designed it that way on purpose, so that she'd have to come down to see him at least every so often. It was a simple enough fix to make.

As April started to head for the exit, Donnie ran after her to cut her off momentarily. "Hey, wait up! Um..."

"Yeah? What is it?" April asked, looking back at him, and Donnie got lost in her eyes momentarily.

"Um, well..." He cleared his throat and then scratched his cheek. "It's nothing really, but uh, are you busy tomorrow? I was thinking maybe we could hang out." He'd been working up the courage all week to finally ask April to hang out with just him specifically. Now he just had to hope it worked -

"Tomorrow? Sorry, I've got a lot of homework I have to finish, I'll be working all night tonight and tomorrow night on it."

- Instead of crashing and burning. It was just his luck. "Oh, I-I see." He sagged a little, then as she started to leave again, he desperately tried once more. "What about the day after tomorrow?"

April stopped in her tracks, just standing there for a minute before turning back to look at him. "The day...after tomorrow?"

"Y-Yeah." Donnie nodded, trying not to seem too desperate. "The day after tomorrow. Are you doing anything then?"

April stared at him, seemingly unsure of what to say for some reason. "Um...no, I'm free that day. You...want to do something then?" She asked as if he was mistaken somehow.

Donnie of course, picked up on none of this, too happy was he to cling to this chance. "Yes! I-I mean, yes. We could...I dunno, go hang out in the park, o-or something." Anything they did on the surface would have to be late at night of course, due to how inconspicuous he'd have to be, but still. "If you want to, I mean."

April kept looking at him, and he nervously smiled. His eyes grew wide then as her eyes looked away. Was...Was she blushing? "A-April?"

"Huh? Oh, um...y-yeah. We can do that. Seeya then." She said, waving goodbye to him as she made her exit at last, before he could get another word in.

"O-Okay! It's a date then! I mean, not a date, but...uh...oh, seeya!" Donnie yelled after her, his voice falling quieter as he went on, and his arm hung by his side. He stood there frozen for a moment, before he jumped up and down and pumped his fist into the air. "Yes! I did it! I got a date with April! This is the most wonderful day EVER!" The world seemed to spin around him out of pure joy.

"Wow, good going Donnie." Said Leo from the couch, and Donnie froze with a red face. He'd completely forgotten that Leo was there. "That was actually a pretty smooth move. I can't believe you actually got her to agree to meet with you that day."

"Well, she was busy tomorrow, so I just went for the next available day." Donnie said, starting to walk to the kitchen to see if there was any pizza left after Mikey and Raph ransacked the fridge.

"Wait, you mean you _weren't_ aiming for that day to begin with?" Leo asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"No. Why would I aim for that day? I want to see her as soon as possible." Donnie stopped, looking back at his brother.

Leo sat there in silence for a moment, just staring at his brother. "You're serious aren't you. You...really don't know what that day is? It's been all over the place lately."

"What're you talking about?" Donnie sighed, putting a hand to his chin as he thought. "There's nothing special about that day. It's just another February 14th." His eyes went wide then as it clicked in his head.

"Yeah..." Leo smirked, reaching to the coffee table and grabbing one of Raph's magazines, and holding up the back of it for Donnie to see a romantic advertisement on the back, for that day. "Just another Valentine's Day."

* * *

_There's chapter one, I hope it was good enough to keep you interested in finishing the other two chapters. Hopefully it's not too rushed in the writing either, I may do some updates to it later to smooth some things out._

_Originally this story was just going to be one chapter, a complete 'one-shot' of a fanfic. But as I started writing, things started going on longer than I'd thought they would, and I was having so much fun writing these characters, that I ended up just having to extend the story. Once I had to do that, I thought about what was left, and realized that three chapters would be best. You'll notice a lot of references throughout this story to actual episodes, as well as some references to other versions of the series._

* * *

**_Advanced Author's Notes_**

_As a fan of a lot of different authors and entertainment mediums, I always enjoy when the creators take the time to de-construct their work and show what went into various parts of it's creation, as well as listing any references someone might have missed. As such, I like to do the same myself, as a service to any readers out there._

_- As I said before, the time between the original idea for this fanfic coming to me and it's actual writing was short, about a month tops. The time between the basic idea coming to me and it's writing was even shorter. All I knew originally was that I was going to write a Donatello x April story. Believe it or not, the Valentine's Day setting didn't occur to me until I was in the process of writing Chapter 1.  
- I tried my best to make this story feel as much like an actual episode as possible, in tone at least. The main part of that was channeling each character's dialogue into my head and seeing if I could hear this line coming from the show's voice actor or not.  
- The other part of making it feel as legitimate as possible was, I had to have a little bit of action in the story somewhere. It's NINJA Turtles, after all.  
- I'm a little out of practice writing over-the-top action scenes, as my most recent original work I've been writing uses more realistic (well, kinda) combat, so hopefully it all flows well enough.  
- Reference #1) For anyone that didn't catch it, Donnie's line of 'What point did we lose control here?' was pulled from Mikey's line during their fight with the Shredder at the end of the first live-action movie. And it was definitely intentional, heh.  
- Something I noticed during the writing process that I never noticed before this was that Splinter, in this incarnation at least, has a very particular speaking style. Unless I just missed a moment of it, he doesn't really use any contractions in his dialogue. It's always 'you are' and 'cannot' instead of 'you're' and 'can't'. It's very reminiscent of Rock Lee's English dialogue in Naruto.  
- Reference #2) Mikey's 'fondling' of Donnie's foot is a direct pull from a similar joke regarding Leo's hand in episode 13, 'I, Monster', of the Nick cartoon, hence it directly mentioning that time.  
- Speaking of Donnie's tagging of Splinter, I really just wanted him to have a moment of glory that was combat related._


	2. Chapter 2 - Planning, Planning, and More

**Chapter Two. Planning, Planning, And More Planning**

"Dude, I can't believe you didn't realize what day it was." Teased Mikey as he lay on his shell on the couch, munching a slice of pizza and watching Donatello with only half interest.

Donnie was on the floor, resting his head on his hands, with his elbows propped up on the table. He'd just finished repeatedly smashing his face into the table to see if that made this nightmare go away. "This is bad. So, so bad. How did I get myself into this!?" He fretted, his eyes wide and his face pale.

"Drama turtle." Scoffed Raph who was standing behind the couch, looking down at his lankier brother as well. "What's the big deal, so your little 'date' is on Valentine's Day. I thought you liked her?"

"I do like her! That's the problem Raph!" Snapped Donnie, before he hung his head again. "I'm not ready for this. I don't have anything prepared. This should be like...a third date, or something, something big. And this isn't even really an official date in the first place. Oh man..." He slumped over onto the table, stretching his arms out before him as he laid his cheek on the cool table surface.

"Maybe it won't be so bad." Leo said, crouching down beside Don to pat his shell. "I mean, you said yourself that this wasn't an official 'date', so I doubt April's expecting anything too big."

"Yeah..." Donnie sighed, closing his eyes. "I really _want_ it to be something big though." He said wistfully.

"Well, do something big then." Leo suggested, pointing to the TV. "If Captain Ryan were in this situation, he'd do something really amazing to win the girl."

"Except his girls are usually blue, or green, or yellow, and usually end up trying to kill him." Sniped Raph, as he rolled his eyes at Leo's fiftieth Space Heroes reference of the day.

"That's beside the point." Leo said, brushing his temperamental brother's comment aside. "The point is that you could do something special for her if you really thought about it right? You've got a whole day." Leo said, reaching out and poking the side of Donnie's temple. "Use your head."

"Yeah..." Donnie sighed again. Then, his eyes widened, and he jumped upright. "Yeah! Use my head! You're a genius Leonardo! I could make something for her!" Donnie shook his fists before him in triumph, it had been so obvious what he had to do, that he couldn't even see it. "I'm going to get to work right now!"

As Donnie ran out of the room, Raph called after him. "Hey, just make sure you don't get too fresh with her! I don't wanna have to come up there and clean the mess after she pummels you if you do." He teased.

"Hey guys, you know what I don't get about Space Heroes?" Mikey piped in again, a few steps behind in the conversation as usual.

"What's that?" Leo asked, surprised that Mikey would actually have a question about the show. He watched it, but not as much as Leo did – or as much as Raph, though Leonardo didn't know about that.

"Why does it always like, fade to black, after that Captain guy and one of the alien girls start kissing? Then when it cuts back, his bed's all messed up and he's lost his shirt." Mikey posed, sitting up and looking back and forth between Leo and Raph. "I don't get it. Did they wrestle or something?"

Both Leo and Raph's eyes bugged out and their jaws dropped. A short moment passed as they recovered, and looked to each other. Leo shrugged, and turned back to the show as it returned from commercial break. "I'll let you handle this one Raph."

Raph sighed, grabbing Mikey by the back of his bandana and dragging him off of the couch, prompting an 'Ow!' to come from his younger brother. "C'mon Mikey. I think it's time we had a little talk about the birds and the bees."

As Mikey was dragged to another part of the lair, his voice could be heard echoing back into the living room. "What do they have to do with anything?"

* * *

True to his word, Donatello had went straight for his room/laboratory, and had launched into work building something for April. He had no time to waste, so he had looked around the room for inspiration of some sort, and when his eyes had fallen across an abandoned project from a few months back, an idea struck him, and he grabbed it and began to re-tinker it into something else.

It was slow work however, and eventually, Mikey got bored some time after Raph's explanation, and dropped in.

"If you're planning anything like what Raph was telling me about with April, I don't think I can look you in the eye anymore bro." Mikey said with wide eyes as he slumped into a bean bag chair in the corner.

"Mm-hmm." Donnie responded, giving a non-answer as he focused on welding the next part into place.

"Seriously, that's just messed up." Mikey shook his head, feeling like he was traumatized for life now. This was worse than that nightmare he'd had about what all the smelly stuff coming down the drains really was. "So what are you making anyway?"

"Right." Donnie said, again giving Mikey only the bare minimum of a response rather than any real answer.

Standing up, Mikey walked over to Donnie's work table and looked at it. "C'mon, just tell me. I can't tell what it is. C'mon, tell me!" He pouted.

"Mm-hmm." Donnie's 'answers' seemed to have made their way back to the start of the list of apparently two responses, and Mikey frowned.

"Hmph." Mikey started to walk away, and then a smirk came over his face. "All right. I'll just be over here playing with your..." He looked over to an opposite corner to see what Donnie kept there. ...He had no idea what it was. "...Your thingie." He slowly crept on tip-toes towards the whatever-it-was.

"Sure." Donnie said, then his head snapped up, and he laid down his tools and ran towards his little brother. "Wait, no, don't touch that!"

"Ha ha, knew that'd get your attention." Mikey smirked, turning away from the device to face Donnie. "And hey, I don't break stuff." He scowled, as he leaned against the thingamabob, using it as an armrest – until part of it promptly broke off and hit the floor, Mikey almost falling with it out of shock. "...I don't break stuff so bad that you can't fix it." He supplemented, as if that was better.

Donnie facepalmed. "Look, Mikey, I know you're bored, but can you please just...contain yourself? Go do something else, I really need to work on this." He pleaded with his younger brother.

"All right, all right, fiiiiinneee. You're no fun anyway." Mikey said as he started to head out.

"Thank you." Donnie said, then something else clicked in his head. "Wait, can you bring me your MP3 player?"

"Why?" Mikey asked, stopping and looking back over his shoulder.

"I want to see what that one song April put on there was."

"No, I mean, why should I help you. I just break stuff." Mikey said with a pout.

Donnie sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry I yelled at you. Can you just bring me the player?" Mikey didn't respond to him right away. "...You do remember that I made that thing for you in the first place, right?"

"...I'll go get it." Mikey said, removing the frown from his face and heading for his bedroom.

* * *

After Michelangelo had brought him the player, Donnie made a copy of the song he'd wanted to his computer, and then sent his mollified brother on his way. He'd gotten back to work on tinkering with the 'gift'. A short time later however, Leonardo popped in as well.

"How's it coming?" He asked, walking into the room to look over Donnie's shoulder.

"Pretty good, I guess. I should be able to finish it just in time by tomorrow night, if I pull an all nighter tonight. Then I can rest before we meet up." He turned to face his brother with a curious look. "I thought you were watching your show?"

"That went off hours ago Donnie. Did you lose track of time?" Leo asked, pointing to a clock on the wall.

Donnie turned to face it and gasped. "Oh shell, I did. I missed the late-night sparring session. Splinter's gonna kill me."

"Don't worry about it." Leo smirked, resting a hand on his hips. "I told sensei that you weren't feeling very well and had already gone to bed. Of course, then he wanted to go check up on you, and I said you were already in bed." He idly scratched the top of his head then. "Not sure he believed me after that, but he let it slide because of how good you did this morning I think."

"Phew, thanks Leo. You're a life-saver." Donnie sighed in relief, and set down his tools again. "I'll apologize to him once I get this done."

"What're you making her anyway?" Leo queried, looking the device over again.

"Oh, well, it's...kinda a couple of things, actually." Donnie cleared his throat, not really wanting to describe what it was. Even Leo would tease him if he knew, so he quickly thought of a way to change the subject. "I'm just worried she won't like it. Or...you know. Me."

"You've just got to give it your best. Cheer up." Leo offered, then raised an eyebrow. "Can I ask you a question though? Why are you so hung up on her anyway though?"

"What do you mean?" Donnie asked defensively.

"I mean, April's great and all, but we didn't really get to know her until _after_ you started going on and on about her. So what was it that made you like her in the first place?"

"O-Oh." Donnie blushed slightly, looking away. "I don't know. I just...when we were on the roof, and I saw her, she just...I don't even know how to describe it. She was just...perfect." He sighed, losing himself in the memory temporarily. As his eyes stared out dreamily into space, he eventually saw Leo looking at him with a bizarre expression, so he shook himself back out of it. "I guess it was just love at first sight."

"I'm not sure I really believe in that though." Leo commented, crossing his arms slightly.

"Well, how would you describe what happened with you and Karai?" Donnie asked pointedly, giving an accusing glare at his brother, still a little miffed about that one.

"T-That was different." Leo stuttered out, standing a little more rigidly now. "We met, and got to talking, and it wasn't until after I got to know her – well, thought I knew her, considering – a-anyway, it wasn't until then that I thought she was ho-" Leo stopped mid-sentence then, his eyes wide and he shook his head wildly. "Anyway, that's in the past!" His voice cracked in the middle of that reply, while Donnie just watched on with a bemused smirk.

Leo headed for the door then, and with one hand on it, he stopped. "Hey, Donnie?" He said, without looking back.

"Yeah?" Donnie said, turning around slightly in his work chair to face Leonardo's back.

"Things between me and Karai didn't really work out, but I hope things work out differently for you and April. ...Don't give up, Donnie." Leo said, and left.

Donnie stared at the empty spot for a moment, then frowned weakly, and turned back to his work. "...Thanks Leo." He'd have to apologize for that Karai crack later too.

* * *

The next day, Donnie had to stop working on his project to attend the early morning sparring session, on almost no sleep. Because of this, and because Splinter was cracking the whip on him harder after the day before, Donnie got his butt handed to him pretty badly. It was with sore muscles that he returned to his desk and sat down in his chair slowly. "Ow, ow, ow..." He groaned as his butt met the seat. "I definitely heard something crack that time."

"Oh, quit your whining." Came Raphael's voice from the doorway, as he walked in behind his brother, carrying a bottle of water that he'd been sipping on. "It's your own fault you know. You wouldn't have gotten kicked around so much if you weren't half-asleep out there."

"Oh clam it. I've been busy." Donnie retorted, picking up his tools again. He was just about done with the gift now, he just had to weld a few more pieces into place, and then put the finishing touches on it and let that cool down. The process would still take most of the rest of the day however, especially with another sparring session to try and survive.

"Right, right. Making something to 'woo' April with." Raph smirked, looking at it now. It was pretty recognizable by this point, to the point that even he could tell what it was. "Nice." He chuckled. "What're you gonna do if she already has one of those though?"

Donnie's head snapped upward slightly and he stared forward at the wall for a moment. "...Hadn't thought of that." He groaned, but then shook it off, and went back to work. "I'll just have to hope she doesn't. Besides, it wouldn't be able to do what this one can."

"Okay? Please tell me it's not going to summon Metalhead when she's in trouble or something." Raph really hoped they'd seen the last of that thing.

"No, it's not going to do that!" Donnie sniped, and continued his tinkering. He'd considered that briefly though, of course.

"Whatever. Just make sure it doesn't do anything creepy. Girls don't do creepy." Raph pulled up a chair from an opposite table and rolled it to Donnie's side, sitting in it backwards. "Course, that means you're already fighting a losing battle, since...well, you know." He smirked evilly.

Donnie gave him a stink eye, but then tried to ignore him and not give him the benefit of a reply. Eventually though, Raph's continuing watching and smirking would break him. "Oh, what do you know about girls anyway!"

"Lots of stuff. More than you do anyway." Raph chided, faking a yawn.

"And how's that?" Donnie asked doubtingly.

"I read magazines. There's some pretty telling articles in there, in-between the TV listings." Raph said, wiggling the chair slightly, causing it to squeak. "So yeah, just don't try to come on too strong like you usually do, and who knows? Maybe she'll be able to overlook the whole geeky...Turtle...thing."

"Hmph." Donnie grumped and turned back to his table again. "What do you care anyway, you just tease me anyway."

Raph frowned and stood up, moving behind Donnie and lightly whacked him on the back of the head as he started to leave. "Hey, I may tease you, but I do want you to be happy. I mean that." He said more earnestly than Raph usually spoke. "Besides, then we won't have to hear you swooning over her all the time. Gag me why don't you." He added, sounding much more like his usual self. And then, he left.

"...Jerk." Donnie said, and then started up the blowtorch again. He mentally thanked Raph as well though.

* * *

Late that night, Donnie quietly went into the kitchen, stifling a yawn behind one hand. He opened the fridge to see if there was any water left to have as he finally turned in for the night.

"And what are you doing up so late, my son?"

"Gah!" Donnie jumped, almost dropping the bottle he'd just grabbed, as he turned wide-eyed to see Splinter at the entrance coming from his bedroom, holding a small candle before setting it on the kitchen table. "O-Oh, sensei, it's you. I was just getting a drink of water."

"I see." Splinter said, sitting at the table and watching Donatello with interest. Donnie felt nervous from his gaze, and it was only then that he realized he'd never apologized to Splinter for ducking out of the previous night's sparring session.

"Sorry about the other night, sensei, the sparring session I mean." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"The one you had to skip because you were not feeling well." Splinter said, though it was clear he didn't believe that.

"Yeah, that one. I...Leo lied for me. I'm sorry." He sighed, moving to sit at the table opposite of Splinter. "I was actua-"

"Do not speak ill of your brother. Leonardo did not lie." Splinter said somberly, making Donnie look up at him. Then, Splinter smiled. "I can tell you were ill, and still are. You are experiencing love-sickness."

Donnie's face burned bright red, and he stared at the table, his voice cracking in response. "Y-Yeah, I guess so. I just...I really like her sensei." He sighed, clasping his hands together on the table. "But I know it's probably all wasted effort."

"What makes you think so?" Splinter asked, watching his son's despair.

"I know how unlikely it is that she'd like me as it is." He admitted, shaking his head slowly. "I'm a nerd, a geek. We're not even the same species. ...We're from two completely different worlds." He finished, hanging his head.

Splinter remained silent for a moment, before he lightly touched his son's shoulder. "Let me tell you a story, Donatello." Donnie looked up to him and nodded, though he didn't really have much choice in the matter anyway. "Back when I was a young man, much like yourself, I fell in love with a girl. Her name was Hikari." That part caught Donnie's attention. This wasn't the same woman his master always talked about, his wife from before Shredder's attack.

"She was beautiful, radiant. Just by being in it, she seemed to light up an entire room with her smile." Splinter continued on. "I was, I believe the term is...head over heels, in love with her. She came from an upper class family however, and I was but a mere genin, a ninja-in-training. We were from entirely different worlds too." He looked into Donatello's eyes to make sure he was getting the point. "One day, after months of watching Hikari from afar, I asked her to meet me alone, much as you have done with April, so we could speak more privately. And I confessed my feelings to her."

"What happened then?" Donnie asked with interest, curious because he knew things must not have worked out in the end even if they had gotten together.

"She turned me down flat." Splinter chuckled. "She had her eyes on another as well, a young man named Masashi."

"I see." Donnie hung his head again. "So it really isn't possible. Maybe I should just call the whole thing off."

"That was not the point of my story, Donatello." Splinter chided. "I did not tell you this story so that you would become depressed. The point was that I confessed my feelings, and even though I was turned down, I felt relieved to at least know the answer to which I had been burning to know. Sometimes, even that is enough." Splinter said as he stood up. "Even the asking, or the telling, is very important, because feelings are not sent just by being felt."

Donatello mulled that over briefly before smiling. "Thanks sensei. I do feel a little better now. ...I'll do my best." He said, waving good night to his father as he went back to his bedroom.

As he watched his son leave, Splinter smiled, and picked back up the candle. "Good luck, my son."

* * *

_**Advanced Author Notes**_

_As a fan of a lot of different authors and entertainment mediums, I always enjoy when the creators take the time to de-construct their work and show what went into various parts of it's creation, as well as listing any references someone might have missed. As such, I like to do the same myself, as a service to any readers out there._

_- For some reason, every time I started to write Mikey's dialogue, a 'Dude' would try to creep into the sentence...I had to try and fight to keep that as under control as possible.  
- Raph's comment about how Captain Ryan's women usually turned on him was a reference to a scene from episode...14, 'New Girl in Town', I think, of the Nick cartoon.  
- It didn't end up working out, but originally I wanted it to be something Raph said that would spur Donnie into his lab, so that Raph could then say something along the lines of 'And we call HIM the brains'. Ah well, maybe another time.  
- The comment about Raph watching Space Heroes as well is something I kind of came up with based on him being able to quote something about it back at Leo in an episode that's escaping me at the moment. It just seems likely to me that he probably actually likes the show too, but Leo's over-the-top love for it annoys him more.  
- Reference #3) The 'fade to black' joke during Mikey's questioning is a reference to that sensation in the 'Pesona' video games, where when your character gets closer to a member of the opposite sex, and a rather questionable 'fade to black' occurs. Yeah...  
- The idea of Mikey being completely out of the loop about sex just seemed to perfect not to do. And it provided another great 'big brother Raph' moment.  
- Reference #4) Mikey's 'nightmare' about the truth about sewers is indeed a callback joke to his realization (and forgetting) in episode 13, 'I, Monster'.  
- I really, really, really wanted to have a 'sassy Black chick' (for lack of a more appropriate term) for Mikey in this chapter, since he's been getting them in episodes lately, but alas, I couldn't come up with a good one that fit. More missed opportunities.  
- Technically Mikey's MP3 player hasn't shown up again since episode 5, 'I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman', but it's not to unlikely that Donnie made him another one really.  
- The song that Donnie gets off of the player is meant to be the first small hint as to what Donnie is making, kinda. You can't really use what's there to figure out what he's making I don't think, but I did at least attempt to leave some bread crumbs anyway.  
- The second hint to what Donnie's making is Leo pointing to the clock on the wall.  
- Donnie's use of 'shell' as a pseudo-swear is a deliberate callback to that happening a lot in the 2003 series by 4Kids.  
- I really wanted all three of Donnie's brothers to have a moment with him that helped him out. Mikey's was pretty superficial admittedly, Leo can bond with him because of his own situation with Karai, and Raph got his own 'hook' that I'll talk about next. Oh, and the order in which Donnie gets advice is going from least helpful to most.  
- The idea of Raph being the most knowledgeable about girls came to me out of about three places I think. 1) He's always reading magazines, so who knows what he's read on that subject...maybe he reads Cosmo or something. 2) Him having to give 'the talk' to Mikey earlier in the story. And 3) the idea is just too funny to me. So I went with it.  
- Raphael's hint (of a sort) about what Donnie is making comes from him noticing what it is that Donnie's making, and hoping that she doesn't have one already. 'The gift' is something that most people would already have. Hmm...  
- My original intention for Splinter's story was to have it be about his actual wife, Tang Shen (though I forget if they've used that name in this show yet or not), but we only know very little about what happened there so far...so I decided in the end to just do my own thing here so that it could conceivably still fit regardless of whatever Nick does on this subject.  
- The girl's name of 'Hikari' was an intentional choice, meant to tie in with Splinter's comment about her lighting up the room. Hikari either means or just has some relation to 'light' in Japanese.  
- I'm not entirely sure if genin is an actual term for in-training ninja, but it seems to fit. I got it from Naruto, but it's not specifically a reference. However...  
- Reference #5) Naming the young man that Hikari liked 'Masashi' was a deliberate reference to Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of 'Naruto', on my part. I contemplated naming him 'Akira' or 'Toriyama' in reference to Akira Toriyama of 'Dragon Ball' fame briefly, but in the end opted for Kishimoto instead due to my use of 'genin', and Toriyama being too recognizable a name. 'Kishimoto' may have been to, so I opted for his first name instead.  
- Reference #6) Splinter's line, "Even the asking, or the telling, is very important, because feelings are not sent just by being felt.", is a line I pulled almost verbatim from the manga/anime 'Midori Days'. It's a line with a lot of truth to it, that had quite an impact on me the first time I heard it, and I relished the chance to pay it tribute here._


	3. Chapter 3 - The Date

**Chapter Three. The Date**

After what felt like an eternity, when it was really only about a day and a half, Valentine's Day had finally arrived. Donnie spent the early part of the day making sure his gift worked as anticipated, wrapping it, and then warding off the teasing of his brothers. Splinter had even let him out of the entire day's sparring sessions, so that he wouldn't be all bruised up for 'the big date'. Finally, the clock struck 5:45 PM, signaling the time for Donnie to meet up with April at the park.

"Here goes nothing." He said, taking a deep breath, and then he headed for the surface.

* * *

"Sorry Irma, something came up." April said, talking to her...for lack of a better term, friend, over her T-phone, as she sat waiting on a park bench. "I know we were supposed to go see a movie, but I accidentally made plans with someone else." She kicked at the ground lightly as Irma replied. "No, it is not a guy. Well...okay, it kind of is, bu – hey, stop yelling!" April pulled the phone away from her ear as her friend launched into a tirade of accusations about April finding a boyfriend before she could.

She sighed, rolling her eyes as she kept the phone held away until Irma calmed down. Irma was her friend, but she could really be exasperating sometimes, especially when she got into her 'man hunter' mode. Hearing the line go quiet at last, April brought the phone back to her ear. "Look, it's not a date, I promise you that. I just made a promise to hang out with him for a while today, that's all. ...Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." April smiled. "All right, I'll bring that CD over for you to borrow. And don't you _dare_ tell Vernon about this, he'll never stop hounding me then." She threatened her friend – that was the last thing she needed, was for that snobby Vernon Fenwick to start hounding her for a date again.

"...U-Um, sure, all right. I'll see if any of his friends would be interested in dating you. Or even his brothers. O-Oh, I didn't mention he had brothers? A-Anyway, gotta go. Gotta go. Bye Irma. No, I've got...bye!" She said, finally hanging up the phone as Irma went into another spaz-out moment upon learning that April's 'date' had brothers. She could only imagine how well that'd go over with the guys, if she introduced them to Irma...though she had to be a better option for Leo than Karai at least.

She sighed, and put the phone back into her pocket. Suddenly, a hand touched her shoulder, and she gasped, grabbing hold of it and flipping the person over her back to the ground in front of her.

"Oww!"

She gasped again as she saw it was Donnie. "O-Oh, it's you! S-Sorry Donnie." She said apologetically, helping him back up. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah." He said, rubbing his head and trying not to blush as he felt her skin contact again. "Not exactly how I want you to say hello every time we meet, but I'll be okay."

April laughed weakly, then froze. "How long were you standing there?"

"Standing where?" Donnie asked quizzically. "I just got here."

"Oh, okay." So he hadn't heard her on the phone. Phew.

"Anyway, um...what do you want to do?"

"Good question." April asked, not really sure what they _could_ do. It wasn't like she could take a humanoid Turtle to see a movie. Or...could she... "I've got an idea."

* * *

April had managed to find a rather run-down theater that wasn't likely to have very many patrons, and had bought herself a ticket, and then found a back entrance for Donnie to sneak in through. They hadn't had a lot of choices for things to watch however, and they ended up watching an old movie called 'Surf Ninjas'.

"You have got to be kidding me." Donnie sighed, shaking his head. "This is just so...corny."

"Give it a break, it's from the 80's." April laughed, shrugging weakly as she got some more popcorn out of the bucket between them and ate it.

"I know, but I just can't buy that one guy as a martial artist, at all." He said, pointing at the screen. "I mean, look at him! He looks more like a...a pizza delivery boy, or something."

April laughed again, and turned back to the movie. A short while later, she reached into the popcorn bucket again, only to feel Donatello's hand on hers. She jumped slightly and looked back over at him, noticing how red his face was as he pulled his hand back. "S-Sorry!" He apologized quickly.

"It's okay." She said quietly, taking a piece of popcorn and putting it into her mouth quickly, and she focused on the screen. As she saw his hand go back into the bucket then, she squeezed her eyes shut momentarily and tried to clear her senses. She wasn't stupid after all. She could tell that Donatello had some kind of feelings for her. She just wasn't sure exactly how she felt about that fact, much less how she felt about him.

On one level, she was immediately balked by the idea, and almost sickened. She was a human, and he was...well, there was no way around it, he was a Turtle. A reptile. They weren't even anywhere near the same species or anything.

Every time she thought this way however, she instantly felt guilty about it. That kind of attitude towards Donnie almost seemed racist in a way, and that was just wrong. He was more human than he was Turtle anyway, wasn't he? The fact that he had feelings for her at all proved that. So shouldn't she be able to see past that, at least to the point that she could figure out exactly how she felt about him?

Pushing those thoughts aside completely, she tried to focus on the movie again. She didn't have time to figure out any of this anyway, she still had to figure out where the Kraang had taken her father this time, and what they were up to...everything else could come later.

* * *

"See, that wasn't so bad." April said as she had met up with Donnie again, outside of the theater, and the two of them had gone back to the park. This time they were at a small bridge over the top of a small creek though, leaning over the edge and looking down into the water.

"Yeah. Anything beats Leo having the TV on Space Heroes constantly." Donnie joked, laughing nervously, and he tried to stifle the laughter when April only smiled. He cleared his throat and looked up at the sky, desperate for anything else to say. "The moon sure is pretty tonight."

"Huh? O-Oh. Yeah, it is." April said, looking up at it, then back to him. She darted her eyes away immediately when his eyes turned towards her. She couldn't look him in the eye, but she would have to. On the walk back over, she had come to a decision. She had to find some way to let Donnie down gently, to tell him that she had too many things going on right now to think about anything with him or anyone else.

"The uh, the moon's light is pretty too. Look at the way it's glowing off of that flower down there." Donnie said, pointing to a flower on the bank of the creek. "...It's the same color as your eyes." He said, closing his own eyes and not daring to look at her for her reaction. Just as she was struggling to tell him it wouldn't work, he was struggling to get up the courage to say what he needed to say.

To April however, this just made things worse. _He's not making this very easy._ She sighed mentally, unsure of how to respond to his words. A silence fell between them then, as only the crickets around them chirped.

The dam of awkwardness would break finally, as April turned to face Donnie with her eyes closed. "Look, Donnie, there's something I need to tell you. I-"

"Wait, um...I had something I wanted to give you first." Donnie spoke up at last, reaching for a small pack that was on the side of his belt tonight, and pulled out a small box.

"What?" April blinked, looking at the box, then she held her hands up before her. "N-No, I really need to tell you this first Donatello."

Donatello could almost sense what she was going to say. He was about to lose, but he couldn't let all of his hard work go to waste. No matter what she had to say, he had to give this to her, and he knew he'd wimp out if she spoke first. "Please, just take this." He said, holding the box out to her.

April looked at it again, and sighed weakly. She took the box from his hands, and started to open it. She could tell him after opening the gift if he wanted her too. She wasn't the type to be swayed by presents however, and she'd feel guilty if she accepted, so she'd just have to return the present to him after seeing what it was.

Her eyes would widen as she finally removed the lid and looked inside. It was a watch, a very nice looking one. And inside the clock face...was a picture of her father.

"It's not much, but I um...wanted to give you something for coming out here today. You know, on...on uh..." Donnie cleared his throat again. "On Valentine's Day. E-Even if this isn't, you know, a date, I figured you could be with anyone you wanted to, so, uh...thanks."

"...I-I don't know what to say." April said, awestruck as she looked at the picture of her father. How had he even gotten one? Looking closely at it, she recognized it as a picture that was in many articles online. Regardless, her father was smiling as he often did even in press photos, and seeing that, when her most recent memory of his face was it shouting in terror...it was more than moving.

Without thinking, she put the watch on her wrist, and stared at it again. The moon would glint off of it, striking her in the eye, and it snapped her out of her stupor. She still had to tell him. "Donnie, I...I can't..."

"Oh, wait, I almost forgot the most important part." Donnie said, pointing at a red button on the side of the watch. "Press that button."

Without replying, April reached and pressed the button. Suddenly, a song began to play, and she gasped, the hand shooting back over her mouth. "T-This is..."

"It's that song that you put on Mikey's MP3 player." Donnie said softly, a smile on his face. "I remembered that you said it meant a lot to you, so I put a small speaker with it on there in the watch."

The song was more important to her than Donnie knew. This song always made her think of her father, because they sang it together on a karaoke machine ever year on her birthday. They'd done this every year since she was little. As she listened to the song, which was the only noise in the air now, small tear-drops would form in her eyes and begin to slowly roll down her cheeks.

When the song eventually ended, Donnie noticed the tears, and after hesitating, he reached out and gently wiped the tears away with a finger. "Um...d-do you like it?"

April nodded with a sniff, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand to finish drying them off. Her voice came out in a croak at first. "I-I do. Oh Donnie, I love it. Thank you...this is one of the most amazing things someone has ever given me."

"I'm glad." Donnie smiled, and he stood up, rubbing the side of his neck with one hand. "Um...Happy Valentine's Day, April." He said weakly, smiling and showing the gap in his teeth. April looked up at him and for the first time, noticed that the gap made him look rather cute.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Donatello." She said back, lowering her hand after one more glance at the watch. "Oh w-wow. It's a lot later now than I thought it was. My aunt's going to be calling the cops to look for me pretty soon."

Donnie laughed, and walked over to her side. "Want me to walk you home?"

"I think I can take care of myself. I am a kunoichi in training now you know." She smiled.

"O-Oh, right." Donnie said with disappointment, as he'd been looking forward to spending a little more time with her. "I guess I'll talk to you later then. Be careful walking home though, don't forget there are some ninjas out here that aren't as friendly as me." He said, waving to her as he started to walk away.

"What, Raph's out for a stroll?" She smiled back, and waved to him. Then, her hand slowly lowered, and she fidgeted. "...Wait, Donnie."

"Huh?" He stopped, turning back to face her. As he did, his eyes widened again, and he watched as she moved towards him, seeming as if to be in slow motion to his eyes. Her face approached his, her eyes closed, and his did briefly out of nervousness...and then he felt her lips on his cheek. They seemed to linger there for a long time, as he felt the soft feeling of them against his skin...and then she pulled away.

"...Thank you Donnie. Really." She smiled, her face bright red, and then she ran past him, heading for her apartment.

Donnie stood there a moment longer, completely frozen in place with a face redder than Raph's mask, and eyes bigger than should be possible. "S-S-She...She...kissed me..." He reached up, and ran a hand over the cheek, then he stopped for fear of rubbing off the feeling of her lips.

"She kissed me...she really kissed me..." He said joyfully, his hands moving to his side as they curled up into fists. Jumping lightly, he pumped one of them into the air, and screamed out for the entire world to hear. "BOOYAKASHA!"

* * *

Little did he know, the whole world listening included April, who had just reached the street in front of her apartment. Hearing his voice, she looked back towards the park, and smiled. As she walked up the steps to her aunt's apartment, she thought to herself that maybe she had room for something else in her life other than the search for her father after all.

**THE END**

* * *

_And that brings this little story to it's conclusion. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it._

_If you can't tell, I'm a major, major fan of this pairing, and I tried to debunk a lot of the things going against it during April's thoughts in this last chapter. A lot of what people bring up as why they couldn't be a couple is actually a pretty poor reason when you think about it, and could be taken in an extremely bad way if this were real life. I'm sure people don't mean it that way, but my point still stands._

_Oh yeah, and obviously I tried my best for this story to be canon to some degree, but Irma and Vernon, if we ever see them in this version of the series (outside of Irma's very small, non-character cameo), they may turn out extremely different from my portrayal here. So please keep that in mind in the future._

_I guess that's all there is to say. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!_

* * *

_**Advanced Author Notes**_

_As a fan of a lot of different authors and entertainment mediums, I always enjoy when the creators take the time to de-construct their work and show what went into various parts of it's creation, as well as listing any references someone might have missed. As such, I like to do the same myself, as a service to any readers out there._

_- As I said before, this story was originally meant to be just a one chapter one-shot, but things ended up developing into three distinct arcs (the set-up; the planning; the date), culminating in this final chapter that...feels a little brief to me honestly, but I didn't want to drag it out just to extend it either. Maybe I should have a little bit though..._  
_- Ahhh, Irma. There's so much fertile ground they coud use her for in this new show, that I had to use her again. And she technically DID appear in episode 11, 'Mousers Attack!'. Hopefully Nick's take, if we ever do actually see her, will gel with what I did with her character here._  
_- Reference #7) Vernon Fenwick was April's annoying cameraman in the 1980's original cartoon of TMNT. If they're gonna bring Irma back in, I really hope they bring him and Burne in too, so I had to reference Vernon as well. Hopefully Nick's version, if he comes in, will fit with what I did too._  
_- Irma's possible interest in one of the Turtles comes from an in-joke me, my girlfriend, and another friend of ours have. We just think it'd be funny to see Irma have a thing for either Mikey or Raph, as a direct opposite of the Donnie/April relationship._  
_- April's flipping Donnie over her shoulder was done to show her actually doing something combat related instead of just DODGING. That's my one complaint with April so far in the show, they're not really showing much of her development as a fighter despite her apparently training with Splinter._  
_- I almost made the old movie they see 'Critters', as a reference to Raph seeing it in the live action movie, but I opted not to since...I've never seen that movie myself. I would have been really limited in what I could say about the movie because of that. As for the movie they DO end up seeing..._  
_- Reference #8") Ah, 'Surf Ninjas', such a great corny relic of the 80s (or was it 90s?). I had to use it here, just for the sake of referencing Ernie Reyes Jr. having been in it, by having Donnie say he looks more like a pizza delivery boy - a role he did play in 'TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze', as Keno. Despite my joke though, I believe Reyes is actually an accomplished martial artist from what I remember reading._  
_- I really wanted to get into April's head in this chapter, since we normally don't get much with her in the show thus far, and what little we do certainly isn't from her point-of-view. She has a lot going on in her life right now, so I really wanted to try to examine a lot of that from the inside out._  
_- At last, the gift is revealed! I honestly had no idea that it was going to be a watch until about halfway through chapter 2, so all of the 'hints' were retroactively added. That might explain how awful they are actually. I was happy with what it turned out to be though, as I think it feels like a legitimately sweet gift without seeming like it's trying too hard, at least to me._  
_- Speaking of the watch still though, remember Raph's comment about Metalhead in chapter 2? That was in part just a reference to the character's status in the show, but it was also a little poking fun at myself. I really DID briefly consider having Donnie's gift be a watch that either somehow turns into a mini-Metalhead drone that could save April in a pinch, or having it summon the real Metalhead to April, like some kind of mecha or...something. Yeah, both ideas were awful, so I nixed them pretty fast._  
_- The song isn't really meant to be anything in particular, and probably isn't really that 'sweet' of a song or anything. It's just something that holds a lot of importance to April's father and herself. Thus, it remains unmentioned what the song's title is. That and, I suck with music and couldn't think of anything that fit._  
_- Just a small bit of aborted plot, or script, rather: Donnie's comment about there being other ninjas out there that aren't as friendly almost contained a reference to the Kraangdroids too, but the line felt too unwieldy and didn't gel as nicely with April's retort, so I nixed that part._  
_- A bigger part of aborted plot however, was the idea that this chapter would have some more combat in it. Again, this is NINJA Turtles, so I really felt like maybe Donnie and April would run into some kind of trouble along the way. Nothing major that lent itself to becoming a huge thing, like the Foot or Kraang (though I did briefly consider Dexter Speckman - er, Baxter Stockman), most likely thugs like the Purple Dragons or something. This idea was nixed once I realized how long the story already was now, and because it just didn't seem to fit with the sweet vibe I was wanting to go for in this last chapter, though it probably would have made it feel more like an actual episode. I think the final nail in this idea's coffin though was that a lot of it came from the stray idea of Metalhead re-appearing in some capacity, so once I cut that, this had to go too._  
_- The kiss Donnie gets is ripped right from the pages of my own life, and was put there as it was as a memory for my girlfriend to re-visit with me when she read it. It really played out a lot like that, though I was left dumbfounded for a lot longer (so it felt anyway) before excitement finally pumped through me, heh._  
_- There had to be at least one Booyakasha somewhere, right?_  
_- And so, the story ends without April and Donnie being a 'couple' per say, but with lots of hope for the future. This isn't really leaving room for a follow-up fanfiction though (not saying there CAN'T be one, but I have no current plans for it I mean), but is more of a way to keep the status quo. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it._


End file.
